Derb – Yeah, I seem to recall this is a device in a lot of sci-fi. In the Dune series they grow slig meat — a mixture of pig and slug — which supposedly tastes delicious. I think this sort of conjecture about the future makes so much more sense than the folks who predict that we will eat a single pill which will satisfy all of our nutritional needs. I can’t think of a good example of this — all I can remember is an episode of the old Planet of the Apes TV series, an episode of Star Trek, and I think a couple of the Ray Bradbury stores. That sort of thing.
But you know what I’m talking about. It’s of a piece with the depictions of the future as antiseptic and sterile. For some reason many people believe that as technology liberates us, relieves more and more of man’s estate (to borrow from Bacon) we will deny our natures more and more. I know lots of people believe technology alienates us and it does. But we don’t want it to. The richer we get the more we surround ourselves with trees and plants. Our meals become more lavish. Our leisure time becomes more important. We move to or visit areas where technology seems less visible — even though we use advanced technology to get there. I believe that in the far-flung future we will live in houses full of woods (real or synthetic) and greens and eat increasingly luxurious meals. We won’t live in THX-1138 style pods with bright track lighting and steel floors the way so many people expect. And to get back to growing meat in a lab, we’ll have a lot more land for people to do that.